Excited to Ride for Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefits Strategies in 2015

I'm excited to announce that I've signed a new contract for 2015, with American trade team, Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefits Strategies.  I rode for Optum in 2012, my first year of professional cycling and I'm excited to return as a more experienced, and stronger rider.  I'm eager to contribute to the team's exceptionally talented and strong roster :

Lex Albrecht (CAN)
Annie Ewart (CAN)
Jasmin Glaesser (CAN)
Janel Holcomb (USA)
Ariane Horbach (USA)
Maura Kinsella (USA)
Leah Kirchmann (CAN)
Ally Stacher (USA)
Alison Tetrick (USA)
Brianna Walle (USA)

Optum will compete on the professional circuit in the US and Canada, as well as in Europe - where they had considerable success the past 2 seasons since their European program was launched.  Being a member of a trade team with a European program was a very important element that I was seeking for 2015, and I feel fortunate to have the chance to be a part of Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefits Strategies in part for this reason.  Optum has an excellent group of respectable, knowledgeable and motivated people running the team, as well as a knack for creating rosters with super good chemistry - which makes all the difference during race season.  The strong group of sponsors and supporters behind the team also helps make Optum the highly reputable and successful team that it is, and I'm so glad to say that I'll be a part of it next year.

January 2012 : kicking off my first professional season with Optum Pro Cycling.  I'm so excited to be returning for 2015!

 I will continue to be based in Montréal, Québec, and train at the PowerWatts Premier Studio in Montréal. 


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With two of my TWENTY16 teammates, Greta and Abby. What an awesome season!

I am  grateful to have had the chance to ride with TWENTY16 Pro Cycling for 2014.  The opportunities they provided during 2014 were second to none, and the moral and material support that they gave to me and all of their athletes was always top-notch.  During the highest parts of the season, and the lowest.  Thank you for your consistant support and patience when I needed it (early season concussion and late season illness). I am proud to have been a part of a program that has played an essential role in winning Olympic medals and World Championship titles.  It was an emotionally difficult decision to have chosen to step away for 2015, but I continue to have the utmost respect for the program, sponsors, riders, and especially the management and staff of TWENTY16.  Thank you for an exceptional year...I feel like it changed me as a bike rider and as an individual for good, and for the better! 

Photo: B. Hodes.  TWENTY16 Pro Cycling, 2014

Tour of the Gila 2013

Tour of the Gila: 5 day stage race at altitude in the New Mexico Desert.  It's windy, it's dry, and there's a heck of a lot less oxygen up there than what most riders are used to. 

The thin air makes it a lot harder to recover from every effort.  It also makes it quasi-impossible go hard enough to make my legs hurt.  My breathing goes into the red-zone before it can happen.  As if my body cannot get enough oxygen to the pistons to let them go hard enough to BURN.

I spent a total of a few hours in the K2 Altitude Room at Power Watts several days before leaving Montréal to race Joe Martin (a race at NORMAL altitude!) and Gila. 

Lex Albrecht in the K2 Altitude Room at PowerWatts Premier Stuido in Montréal.

The first day was relatively flat and downhill, until the final 10km where the road shot up.  And up, and up.  The finish line sits at just under 8000ft.  At the bottom of the hill Mara Abbott (Exergy 2016) attacked, and Claudia Haussler (Tibco) followed, only to "blow up" a few minutes later.  In the end, Katie Donovan, the star climber of our team, finished just barely behind 2nd place on the 1st stage of Gila.  Alison Powers finished in 4th.  I was 12th out of the 62 riders that day.

Stage 1 Podium: Katie Donovan in 3rd place.

1	Mara Abbott (Exergy TWENTY16)	3:19:48
2	Kristin McGrath (Exergy TWENTY16)	0:01:58
3	Kathryn Donovan (NOW and Novartis for MS)
4	Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS)	0:02:10
5	Andrea Dvorak (Exergy TWENTY16)	0:02:28
6	Claudia Häusler (Team TIBCO)
7	Anne Perry (DNA Cycling p/b Plan7)	0:03:01
8	Joelle Numainville (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)	0:03:20
9	Jade Wilcoxson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)	0:03:32
10	Scotti Wilborne (Leborne Development)	0:03:34
11	Joanne Kiesanowski (Team TIBCO)	0:04:20
12	Lex Albrecht (NOW and Novartis for MS)	0:04:24
13	Janel Holcomb (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)	0:04:55
14	Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO)	0:05:04
15	Amy Charity (Vanderkitten)	0:05:16

Stage 2 ("Inner Loop") began early in the morning at Fort Bayard.  The peloton split and regrouped several times.  In the end, Katie Donovan, Robin Farina and I were with Alison in the final group.  Robin Farina get into a non-general-classificaiton-threatening break just before the finish.  She just missed the podium, but that was okay.  Our priority was to either gain time on Mara Abbott for Alison Powers, or not lose any.  We didn't lose any, as Mara was in the same group as Katie, Alison and I.  We wouldn't have let her off the front.  Mission kind of accoplished.  (Janel Holcomb of Optum got away early and stayed away SOLO in the end, to win the race.  An impressive ride by Janel!  She blew the field away).

This is the result breakdown:
   (Solo Break: 1)
   (Small Break before the finish: 2-5)
   (Lead group: 6-19)
   (Other riders: 20-61)

1 Janel Holcomb (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 3:29:00 2 Shelley Olds (Team TIBCO) 0:00:48 3 Jade Wilcoxson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:00:49 4 Robin Farina (NOW and Novartis for MS) 0:00:56 5 Joanne Kiesanowski (Team TIBCO) 0:00:59 6 Lauren Hall (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:01:27 7 Claudia Häusler (Team TIBCO) 8 Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS) 9 Chantal Blaak (Team TIBCO) 0:01:32 10 Scotti Wilborne (Leborne Development) 11 Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO) 12 Kathryn Donovan (NOW and Novartis for MS) 13 Mara Abbott (Exergy TWENTY16) 14 Amy Charity (Vanderkitten) 15 Andrea Dvorak (Exergy TWENTY16) 16 Lex Albrecht (NOW and Novartis for MS)
The 26km Time Trial was on the 3rd Day.  It was cold and windy.  So cold I wore long fingered gloves and arm warmers.  (I have yet to receive my long sleeved skinsuit. For the moment I wear a borrowed one from my teammate Beth Newell).  I decided to go with a less aero-dynmaic front wheel at the last minute, in hopes that I would have a greater chance of not getting blown off my bike by a huge gust of wind.  In hindsight, I'm not sure if it was necessary. Warming up for the TT on our S-Works Amiras.  We raced on our S-Works SHIVs. I was baffled to find out that only 4 other riders had beaten my time by the end.  Race winner: ALISON POWERS, my teammate!  She gained time over the leader, Mara Abbott.  The race organizers had watermelon for the riders at the end of the race.
Alexis Ryan getting watermelon for her teammates after the Time Trial Delish!  Thanks Alexis, and thanks to the Tour of the Gila race organizers and volunteers
1 Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS) 0:39:23.41 2 Janel Holcomb (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:00:10.92 3 Kristin McGrath (Exergy TWENTY16) 0:00:51.05 4 Mara Abbott (Exergy TWENTY16) 0:00:56.01 5 Lex Albrecht (NOW and Novartis for MS) 0:01:07.25 6 Shelley Olds (Team TIBCO) 0:01:24.70 7 Claudia Häusler (Team TIBCO) 0:01:31.09 8 Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO) 0:01:35.69 9 Jade Wilcoxson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:01:44.37 10 Andrea Dvorak (Exergy TWENTY16) 0:01:59.16
The criterium in downtown Silver City was fun, and NOW and Novartis for MS raced a very agressive race.  We had coffee on the same day to celebrate our teammate's birthday (Olivia Dillon) The final day finished with a long climb, and Mara Abbott (Exergy) won all over again.  Katie Donovan and Alison Powers fought the entire climb to bring her back and did a great job.  Alison finished 2nd overall in the 2013 Tour of the Gila thanks to some REALLY spectacular riding and great teamwork from NOW and Novartis for MS. Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS) 2nd place overall at the 2013 Tour of the Gila (Mara Abbott- Exergy 2016 in 1st, and Janel Holcomb - Optum in 3rd)  FINAL TOP 10 GENERAL CLASSIFICATION: 1 Mara Abbott (Exergy TWENTY16) 11:44:29 2 Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS) 0:01:32 3 Janel Holcomb (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:02:42 4 Claudia Häusler (Team TIBCO) 0:03:03 5 Kristin McGrath (Exergy TWENTY16) 0:04:34 6 Andrea Dvorak (Exergy TWENTY16) 0:06:38 7 Jade Wilcoxson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:08:01 8 Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO) 0:08:27 9 Lex Albrecht (NOW and Novartis for MS) 0:09:06 10 Kathryn Donovan (NOW and Novartis for MS) My next race: Gatineau Grand Prix in Gatineau, Québec.  I'll be racing with the Canadian National Team for this one!